Level Method Assessments! 800g leaderboard! More!

It’s here! The first of three level method assessment seasons starts this week! I can’t wait to see all of the upgrades! …and the downgrades. Let me talk about that briefly… yes, you can level down and that’s important to see for both you and your coaches. That lets us know there’s a problem somewhere and we have to find out why or what we can change to get back toward progress. Did you have an injury setback? Do you need 1-on-1 personal training? Maybe some supplemental work after class would fill in that blank? It’s important, let it happen; it’s not a failure. It’s simply a barometer of where you’re at on that particular day.

STRATEGY FOR THIS WEEK - LOTS of deadlifts planned between Monday and Wednesday. If you’re not so concerned with your deadlift level, perhaps you save yourself a little bit for Wednesday… or vice versa. Don’t work to a true 1RM, then do the kettlebell test, then plan to do LB/UB Endurance Wednesday; it won’t end well and you won’t perform to your true ability. Play it smart, ask your trainers!

800g leaderboard update! Kayla’s team is absolutely smashing it; sitting about 100 points ahead of the second place team! Great job! That’s impressive. In 2nd place, Sam’s Team (1058) overtook Christian’s “Get Huge,” team as their numbers fell off (1022). Ben’s team is scratching out every point but still coming up short at 1004. Hopefully by now all of you are experiencing better energy levels, less soreness, and less bad calorie intake!

If you didn’t see the email the other day, we now have the ability to direct withdraw from bank accounts and it saves us a good chunk of change. If you don’t mind switching to that method, we’d really appreciate it. Just ask Ben to send you the activation email and you’ll be set!

Also, remember to download the Member’s portal app from PushPress to reserve your spot for classes. Open gym will require a reservation, otherwise we’ll close up and head home. Don’t show up at 6:45 without a reservation! Please don’t. It’ll make me feel bad. :)

Here’s the plan for the week!

Open gym rules, 800g challenge update, and workouts!

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope your New Year has gotten off to a great start. It was great to see everyone back and in their regular routines this week!

Topics today: 6:30 Open Gym - Use the Members App - 800g Challenge Leaderboard - Help us, help you with Automatic Clearing House

*We added the 6:30 open gym time a couple months ago and the attendance has been rather sporadic. We added it for two reasons: 1) we know there’s a need at times to be there later because of crazy work requirements and 2) people need access to equipment in order to practice particular movements or develop skills. We are going to keep it because those are valid reasons! :) BUT… you’ll have to let us know that you’re coming. So our coaching staff isn’t there wondering if people will show, you will now have to use the Push Press Members App to reserve a spot prior to 6:30; otherwise open gym is cancelled.

Which brings us to the second thing we’d like to implement…

*We’d love to have each of you reserve a spot for each class using that same Push Press Members App. Being able to see who will be in class (and how many) will help us be better prepared to give you the best experience we can for you. So, if you don’t have it yet, head to your app store or android store and pick it up. (That same log-in can be used at the merchandise kiosk to put drinks/protein on your account.)

*800g challenge update! 6 days in the books and at this moment, we have some leaders emerging!

Kayla’s “Girl Power,” showed just how mighty they are with an impressive 366 points! Christian’s “Get Huge,” was next at 332, followed by Sam’s “Team Sam,” and Ben’s “The Winners,” being real losers at 312. Get ready for week two! Go to the store, have snacks available, eat out less, let’s go!

*Automatic Clearing House. What the heck is that? It’s direct-pay from your bank account. As you can imagine, new businesses run on a shoestring budget, so every little bit counts. Credit card fees are dang expensive in the grand scheme, so we’d like to ask each member to set up their account for ACH payments. We didn’t raise membership rates this year and kept the founders rates valid, so if you can get this set up for us, it’d be a tremendous help. IN FACT… for anyone who does, you’ll earn a free FitAid or O2 recovery drink for your trouble. :) See or text Ben to set that up. Thanks!!

*ok with all of that said, we’re in for a really good week of training! Some of these are superbly imagined and going to make us better. Here they are!

Workouts for 1/6!

Workouts for 12/30!

Christmas Week workouts and schedule

Hey all! If you made it out to the Chaos of Christmas on Saturday, we hope you had a great time! If you missed it, man, too bad! …let me know if you want to give it a go sometime, you’ll need a partner.

Here’s the schedule for the week!

Monday - Normal

Tuesday 8a, 10a

Wednesday Closed!

Thursday - normal

Friday - normal

Saturday - normal

OH. MY… This could be SO nasty. Bring your midline stabilization!!

800g Challenge!

JOIN THE #800gCHALLENGE® at The Standard

WHAT IS IT?

The #800gChallenge was designed by OptimizeMe Nutrition. Eat 800 grams (g) of fruits and/or vegetables, by weight, per day. 

No foods are eliminated, but only fruits and veggies count toward the 800g. Eat the fruits and veggies of your choice. Hit the macros you want.

Raw, cooked, canned, frozen; doesn’t matter!  If you can weigh it as a standalone and unprocessed fruit or vegetable, you can count it. Yep, that’s it! Here’s a one-sheet with all the rules.

So why 800g? It’s associated with increased health and is a simplified way to hit those recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. Read more here.

DATES

January 6th-February 2nd

SIGN-UP

You can register HERE:

www.Thestandard800gchallenge2020.wodifyrise.com  

MEETING

We will host a meeting at The Standard to go over all the challenge rules and answer your questions. Be sure to be there!

• January 1st at 9am

COST

$30 per person (This will be paid through push press at the gym or in cash to a coach)

SCORING

We will be using Wodify Rise to log scores and leaderboard throughout the challenge. More info on scoring can be found here.

PRIZES

The person with the highest points on each team will earn their money back! (Team captains are not in the running for this prize, sorry coaches!)

The team with the most points will be treated to Balance on The Standard’s dime!

Bragging rights are also a pretty cool prize.

12/16 - A couple announcements!

Hey everyone!

Thanks for joining us for Friendsgiving this past weekend! We had a great time chatting with you and your little ones and your loved ones. I can’t wait to see what next year’s will be!

Version 2 of Level Method’s map! Version 1 was around for nearly 5 years before version 2 came out. We don’t expect a version 3 any time in the near future, so your new level is your level until you change it! If you haven’t logged in and changed your password, you should and then check your levels while you’re at it and see if there are any you could immediately upgrade. Let a coach know if there are!

Chaos of Christmas event is next weekend! It’s going to be a blast! Make sure to reserve a spot! If you don’t have a partner, just signup and we’ll match you up on Saturday. :)

Workouts for 12/9 - FRIENDSGIVING SATURDAY 6PM

Here we go again! A new week of workouts! An opportunity to get better, an opportunity to spend time with friends, an opportunity to shut your stresses off for an hour and do something good for yourself. Let’s do this.

Quick reminder - Saturday at 6pm at The Standard… Friendsgiving! It’s a potluck, so bring something you enjoy eating and expect others will too. Keep it simple. If you don’t want to bring something, still come, just bring a good attitude. :) There are a few good reasons to be there, but they’re surprises, so you’ll find out soon enough!

Workouts for 12/1

Navigating Nutrition around the Holidays

Hey all! Kayla Genson here! With Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s just around the corner, we will be spending time with loved ones and great food. While many are excited for all of the yummy treats, there are others of you secretly sweating, wondering how you will get through the holidays AGAIN this year without derailing your progress. Or maybe you are the person who says, “Oh forget it! I’ll start over in January!” Then you spend the next month and a half eating garbage and feeling like garbage.

First, let’s take a second to BREATHE. Next, I want you to say out loud, “The holidays will NOT derail my progress.”

Good, now we can move onto to some helpful strategies to get through the holidays without feeling like you need to miss out or feeling like you sabotaged yourself.

1.) Try not to “save your calories”. This looks like not eating breakfast and possibly lunch that way you can engorge ALL the food later. This way of eating tends to lead to an all out binge that leaves you feeling miserable at the end of the night. Instead, eat a satisfying breakfast and lunch, that way when the holiday meal comes around you can eat mindfully because you will not be starving.

2.) If you track your food/macros: I encourage you to try not to on this day. Holidays are meant to be enjoyed with family, friends, and food. Don’t try to stress over how much fat is in your stuffing. Memories > Macros!

3.) Do not try to “burn off” your holiday meal. You know those memes that say 3 sets of 12 push ups burns off a cup of mashed potatoes? WRONG. The body doesn’t work that way, and you do not need to earn your calories.

4.) Have the dessert! Again, holidays are meant to be enjoyed with family, friends, and food. The slice of pumpkin pie will not make you gain 5 pounds of fat. Just maybe don’t eat the entire pie.

5.) Be nice to yourself. If you do go off the deep end one or two days, everything will be fine! Just don’t use those one or two days to keep stuffing yourself into a New Year’s Resolution that you don’t want to keep.

Hope you all enjoy the time with your families and eat super yummy food!

Love you guys!

Kayla

THANKSGIVING WEEK - Bring a friend/relative/mortal enemy for FREE!

Hey guys! Let us just start by saying that we’re overwhelmed with gratefulness for the privilege it is to work with each and every one of you! We’ve worked really hard to bring you the best fitness experience possible with the hope that it’s best hour of your day, each day you show up. Thanks for being such a big part of what The Standard Experience is! You inspire us to do more and to be better.

This week is Thanksgiving week and we know that many of you will have out-of-town visitors. Bring/Drag them to The Standard this week and it’ll cost $0! Free! Thursday and Friday mornings (8a/10a) will be partner workouts with very different structures, so those are always great workouts to have the novice or uninitiated participate in.

Wednesday’s workout says “pushups,” but we’re changing it to HSPUs or inversions because Friday will be a slew of pushups in a partner workout.

Here we go!

IMPORTANT DATES and ANNOUNCEMENTS... plus training plan for the week.

Hello #standardtrained army! Here’s a quick update on a few things that are going on that you should know about!

1) Congrats to everyone who participated in The Open; there were some very impressive performances! WE WANT TO CELEBRATE THOSE! So… if you did something in an Open workout that you’ve never done before, write it on the whiteboard the next time you’re in! We’d love to see how many breakthroughs we had as a group. The Open is designed to expose weaknesses, so we’d like to meet with all of you to talk about those. Ben will likely find you before or after class to chat for a few minutes.

2) If you’ve been in the gym the last few days, you likely know that it’s like working out in a greenhouse. Humid and stinky. Turns out Balance Farms behind us implemented a new circulation protocol and flushed a SLEW of air into a gap in the wall between our spaces. It’s going to be fixed tomorrow or in the next few days, but that’s the 411. smh. ugh. sorry.

3) We looked at the survey responses and we really appreciate all of the suggestions, criticism, encouragement, and the time you took to fill it out. That being said, we identified a need for a 4:30 class time and some extended gym time at 6:30, so those are going to begin 11/25!

4) We’re likely going to start using text messaging to deliver updates. Winter weather is a thing, many of you don’t use social media (good for you!), email is too slow, I can’t personally call each of you, so… texts. :) They won’t be abusive, but they’re likely to happen.

5) Calendar events just added!

11/23 - Mobility and Flexibility workshop! For $20, you’ll work through a 75 minute assessment and learn the value of mobility/flexibility, determine where your personal limitations are, and most importantly figure out new techniques to improve those areas. Improved mobility improves SAFETY which improves your consistency of attendance, which makes you DANG MORE FIT. =) Come join us NEXT SATURDAY!! https://thestandardcrossfit.pushpress.com/open/event/cal_c3d16efadacff9?framed=0

11/25 4:30PM class and 6:30PM open gym begin daily! Need to get it in a bit earlier or can’t make it to the 5:30? We have options!

11/28 and 11/29 - THANKSGIVING!! We’ll have an 8am and 10am class ONLY for these two days. Do not plan to be at the noon or 5:30 classes! We’ll be stuffed like a turkey by then. THESE ARE FREE TO THE PUBLIC - No cost, it’ll be a partner-based workout, so bring a buddy (preferably someone who’s all “blehhh CrossFit will make me bulky/is dangerous/is too hard” lol)

12/14 - Holiday Friendsgiving Potluck! 6pm! We’ll provide some protein, but bring a dish to share and enjoy a holiday celebration with our Standard Family. We’ll have a special surprise you really won’t want to miss!

12/15 - California Club! Ben’s birthday workout. Come suffer/enjoy a terrible workout that Ben likes for some unknown godforsaken reason. 10:30AM should be enough time for you crazy kids to wake up and get around. :)

12/18 - ProMedica day - We’ll be hosting a number of classes for ProMedica employees and their friends, but it won’t interrupt our normal classes. Just expect to see people that you might not normally see. Let’s be nice to our neighbors. :)

12/21 - TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS! The workout. *BUT ALSO… something exciting… we’ll announce this in the coming weeks, but you (and/or a friend) won’t want to miss it!

Workouts for 11/11 - Time to get better!

Hey all! We’ve made it. A tough two month stretch between Level Method testing and another Open soon after leaves us wanting to get back to the business of getting better; instead of proving that we are.

As a coaching staff, we are pumped for this! We got to watch some incredible things happen from all of you, but we also saw (alongside you) some holes that we’re anxious to help you fill. If you ran into a workout or movement that really revealed a weak spot, get with one of us and let’s figure a plan!

As for this week, we have a TON of unilateral (one-sided) movements, but a lot of unique and challenging workouts. Here we go!

LAST OPEN WORKOUT WEEK! ...thank god, right?

Guys. We’re almost there. One more week. You can do it.

It’s been a long two months between Level Method testing and immediately into ANOTHER Open. It’s been incredible to watch the barriers be broken on so many different fronts by so many of you. Thanks for letting us be a part of those moments!

In other news, we put together a survey for anyone reading this. If you have 4 minutes, it’d be invaluable to us to have your feedback. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9TWBT7R

This week we’re switching Friday’s workout for Tuesday’s workout because I don’t want to have 30 C&J’s after we just did 20.4. So don’t be confused by the day at the top.

TUESDAY - NOT FRIDAY

Workouts for 10/28!

Alright guys, nothing crazy this week except for Monday. If your shoulders are crushed from 20.3, then avoid the pushups and opt for a pulling motion (Muscle up, C2B, Pull-up, banded pull up)

Let’s get after it!

Workouts for 10/21

Hey all! Big week of training coming up. Come prepared to work hard and get better! Your coaching staff can’t wait!

Open Week 1 - In the books!

Hey all! It was inspiring to watch all of you work through 20.1 - a nasty workout designed to tax your movement quality when completely out of breath. Make sure you log your scores!! The deadline is 5pm on MONDAY!!

You have 24 hours.

Here are the workouts for the week, obviously Friday is left out. I reserve the right to change the order of workouts based on what comes in 20.2, so don’t be surprised if Saturday is different. It’s hard to put a plan together when there’s an entire day that’ll be a mystery. :)

...and now? We Open. THE Open. Are you in?

Here are the workouts for this week!

Housekeeping:

Sign up for the open

Buy your t-shirt or tank to commemorate your 2020 Open!

Poco Piatti party on 10/10 where we’ll eat great food, have lots of laughs, and watch Rich Froning and Scott Panchik complete the TBA 20.1 workout! Starts right after the 5:30 class on next Thursday!

World Wide Levels Testing!

Hey Everyone! On September 9 we start our World Wide Level Method Testing Schedule for 3 weeks! I wanted to go over some basic things with you:

1. Take time to check out your levels before you attend classes so you can set a game plan on what tests to hit. For instance, I'm very certain I can't level up my deadlift on Monday, but I'm optimistic that I could improve my mile... since they're tested on the same day, I may not even test my deadlift and simply prepare for the run... or vice versa if you're solid at running and not so much on deadlift.

2. Even though we call this “testing” look at this as an ASSESSMENT. It is simply an opportunity to see where you are or what progress you've made over the last few months! With that info, the coaching staff can work individually with you to map out next steps! MOST importantly, let's have fun!!! Cheer on your fellow athletes and enjoy it!

3. There are workout OPTIONS for every class -- so testing isn’t mandatory (just highly recommended) As an example, if you come to class and have recently tested Deadlift, you won’t have to retest deadlift in class, there will be a separate option for you.

4. If you’ve been training consistently BELIEVE that you will level up! Over and over, people think they haven't improved, but then they try and surprise themselves. FEELING like you’re not getting better is the same as feeling like you’re not losing weight-- until you find yourself having to buy smaller sizes. Fitness is like that too, and it’s a big reason we have the Level Method. I hope you’re excited! Check out your levels, put particular days on your calendar, and let’s have a BLAST!

5. If you've not been training at all (or know of anyone who has been on the fence about starting); this is the perfect time to set a baseline for yourself and see EXACTLY where you fall on the fitness spectrum. Not only that, we'll identify strengths and weaknesses with you and formulate a plan to get you fitter faster than anywhere else. There's no better time to get started!

I can't wait to see what happens and I'm so proud to get to coach you! Have a great weekend!

Ben.

NOTE - NOTE - NOTE - NOTE - NOTE

These workouts are the ALTERNATE workouts.

Not testing your running on Monday? Do 3 RDS 400m run & 21 burpees.

Make sense? Just alternate workout options on the off-chance you’ve already tested these recently.

Week of Labor Day workouts!

This week kicks off with a massive partner workout that’s doable at all skill levels, invite a friend to come hang out with us TOMORROW at 8a or 10a! The Labor Day parade is happening at 9, so stay to enjoy that. Because of the parade, please allow yourself enough time in the morning to get a spot and walk to the gym.

Upcoming events!!

Global Level Method Testing begins 9/9. If you know anyone who is on the fence about checking out The Standard, now is the time for them to start fresh at square one. Please have them talk to me (Ben) about what it might look like for them to train with us. For those of you who have already done it, this is an awesome time to see just how far you’ve come. Did you die on the burpee/ jumping pullup workout? Guaranteed you’ll smash it this time. It’s exciting to see what the hard work you’ve put in has done.

Poco Piatti Thursday 9/12! There will be free hummus and drink specials, as well as Thursday Night football. Come by at 7-9:30ish and bring a friend or two! All are welcome.

The CrossFit Open starts 10/10 — Much more on this to come, but if you want to get registered now, you can, it’s live :)